Rabbi Lewis Aryeh Weintraub

On Sunday, April 14, Rabbi Lewis A. Weintraub of Rockville. Beloved husband of Fannie I. Weintraub; devoted father of Samuel Weintraub and Simkha (Simha Rosenberg) Weintraub and Rebecca (Richard) Prigal. Loving grandfather of Gabriel, Daniel, Adin and Meirav Weintraub and Elaine and Jonathan Prigal. Memorial contributions may be made to JSSA Hospice, 6123 Montrose Rd., Rockville, MD 20852 or to American Friends of Alyn Hospital, 122 E. 42nd St., #1519, New York, NY 10017. Arrangements entrusted to Torchinsky Hebrew Funeral Home.

• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jan 10 2023, 18:39:12 UTC

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Oral history interview with Lewis A. Weintraub, 1997
Weintraub, Lewis A.,.

https://researchworks.oclc.org/archivegrid/collection/data/50674135
Summary:
Transcript : 38 pages ; 28 cm
Lewis A. Weintraub briefly discusses his life before he moved to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1947. The son of Myaryeh and Enya Weintraub in Poland, he, with his mother and siblings traveled to Montreal, Canada, in 1930, joining his father who had arrived 4 years before. His interest in travelling rabbis in Poland and his mother's devout nature prompted him to attend Yeshiva College; he graduated in 1941, got his rabbinical degree a few years later and briefly served as chaplain in the armed forces. He served as an assistant rabbi to a Denver, Colorado, congregation for a few months, but internal politics were not to his liking, so he left
He then moved to Charleston, S.C., as the first rabbi of the Conservation Synagogue Emanu-El, which was founded mostly from families leaving the Orthodox Brith Sholom congregation; fewer came from the Beth Israel Congregation. He speaks of the first services, before the congregation had a building; the acquisition of a structure on Gordon Street, the dedication, the congregation's rapid growth, the speakers he brought in, and the educational series begun
He also mentions the starting of bar and bat mitzvahs, and confirmation ceremonies. Once, on leaving town, he had arranged for a rabbi from an Orthodox congregation to cover his services; but then the Orthodox board refused to let him preach to a Conservative congregation. In response to questions, Weintraub talks about the philosophy of Conservatism, and how it might have appealed to a post-war generation; the more aristocratic members of Brith Sholom wanted to have men and women worship together and make some adaptations to American life
Weintraub praises certain families, such as the Kronsbergs, Mendelsohns and Steinbergs, for sustaining the congregation in its early years. Many contributed funds, and Dr. Matthew Steinberg volunteered as the Congregation's volunteer moil, or ritual circumciser. After marrying Fanny Goldberg from Charleston, and having two children, Rabbi Weintraub realized it would be best to leave to provide a better environment for his family. When he departed after seven years of very many positive experiences, the Congregation had grown from 40 members to over 200 families and was nearly finished with the construction of a new sanctuary
Rabbi Weintraub was in Charleston, South Carolina, in January 1997 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Synagogue Emanu-El
Interviewed by Dale Rosengarten and Michael Samuel Grossman, in Charleston, South Carolina, 26 January 1997